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I think we are in fairly close agreement, with one reservation, regarding flat plates and the "turning" effect.
Up to a moderate angle of attack, at a moderate airspeed, airflow over the upper surface soon separates and becomes turbulent, i.e. the flat "wing" section stalls, experiencing a drastic loss of lift at the upper surface. However, at high angle of attack, at a low airspeed, vortex lift can develop on the upper surface. This can restore the uplift proportion of total lift such that downwash no longer makes up most of the lift.
If this effect did not occur, neither Concorde nor the Vulcan could have been the practical successes that they were. These aircraft, and indeed delta planforms with slender wing sections generally, would need to have much higher landing speeds and/or highly complex wing slat and flap systems, and land at much lower angles of attack. These factors could well have rendered them impractical, I understand.
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